Design Cycle
In the Design Cycle I will be focusing on the devices, tools, technologies and techniques that will help you get your job done. If I see an interesting tool, I'll let you know, same for products, design tips and industry trends you should know about. Anything that'll help you get to market faster. If there's something you think I should be talking about, flag it!
Ignore politics at your peril
When I recently heard banging on my front door, I came dashing up from my office, in no mood for a door-to-door pitch. Instead, what I got was a chance to put my time where my mouth is with regard to engineering and politics, and so far I’ve again failed to act-but at what price? As engineers, we eschew politics. We think that we are above all that. We think that we’re smarter, more ...... Read More
Comments (28)Before exceptionalism comes can-do-ism
Two questions came up at the recent DESIGN West conference in San Jose: How do we rebuild America, and why did I come here? The first question arose during a panel comprising UBM Electronics editorial directors, including myself, and moderated by Karen Field, our boss and UBM Electronics’ vice president of content. The point of the panel was to discuss and answer questions from attende ...... Read More
Comments (8)It’s my turn to tell Apple what to do
Make me a pair of decent headphones. That’s it. Then take the remaining $87 billion left over after the stock buy-back and go figure out how to stop people who don’t know what they’re talking about from telling you what to do. It’s pretty amusing when you think about it. Apple is right now the most exciting and successful technology company in the world and yet bystande ...... Read More
Comments (4)Patents: Where's yours (and how do you get them)?
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, patents are a mark of accomplishment and every engineer would like one, or ten, under their belt. Where’s yours? Despite the recent moves to reform patent law in the face of an onslaught of patent troll activity (don’t hold your breath on rapid or useful change) just navigating the halls of patent filing successfully should come with its ...... Read More
Comments (38)DesignCon 2012 Panel: Test gurus share vision to accelerate your ‘time to answer’
The countdown begins: On Wednesday next at DesignCon 2012 I’ll be moderating a panel comprising four of the sharpest minds in the electronics industry as they explore the cutting edge of technology and what it means for you, the test engineer. It’s important to note at this point that this panel is a new addition to DesignCon, and its primary purpose is to be an interactive forum for ...... Read More
Comments (0)DesignCon: It’s time to start designing
At the time of this writing, I am preparing to fly to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) where I am looking forward to unearthing and putting before you for evaluation some truly innovative, exciting, and useful technology and devices from among the thousands of gizmos and gadgets that will inevitably catch my curious eye. By now, you are no doubt already enjoying coverage of C ...... Read More
Comments (0)Teardown of Vizio VTAB1008 tablet shows man-machine symbiosis
There’s just something about the Vizio VTAB1008 8-inch Android tablet: You take it out of the box, turn it on, start using it, and right away you just get attached to it. I did, and so did my family, to the point they’re asking for a new one now that this one is shredded. Few designs generate a symbiosis of user and system, but all designers know how hard it is to achieve that natura ...... Read More
Comments (11)Suppliers, distributors and the issue of trust
Do you trust your distributor and has your supplier let you down? I’ve been seeing and hearing quite a few comments of late to the effect that: A: Suppliers have gutted their tech support, opting instead to rely on distributors, to the overall detriment of design support for specific products, particularly in the MCU space. B: Distributors, which should be objective and trustworthy, may &#x ...... Read More
Comments (4)The medical electronics balancing act: Lower costs with greater innovation
Lower costs and greater innovation, in medical? This I have to see. It’s a webinar being hosted by a colleague of mine, Bruce Rayner, so I asked him to send me a description of what he’ll be covering, and here’s what he sent me. It may be worth your while stopping by for a bit. Also, if you have any questions you’d like to ask in advance, post them here, and we’l ...... Read More
Comments (2)Teardown of Viewsonic gTablet: Unleashing the power of Tegra-2
The Viewsonic gTablet is a low-cost sub-$300 Android 2.2-based tablet that with the horsepower to make it competitive with high-end devices–if you have the stomach and time for rooting and hacking. Based on a 1-GHz Nvidia Tegra-2 dual-core ARM A9 processor, the gTablet has a 10.1-inch display with full 1080p high-definition support with 1025×600-pixel resolution. It’s got all th ...... Read More
Comments (11)DesignCon 2012: 3D IC standards, great! But do we care?
DesignCon 2012 at the end of January many interesting panels, not least of which is, “Why do we need 3D design standards.” However, as cutting edge and exciting as that sounds, it may be asking the wrong question. The right question may be, “Do the economics of 3D make sense and who takes the fall when things go wrong?” Much has been written about 3D IC packaging, most ...... Read More
Comments (0)You know it's time to retire when...
It’s easy to get caught up worrying about the future and whether or not retirement will be an option and we may have to find a new career later in life. Many of us may be the opposite, and be worried that we’ll be forced to retire. “Take this soldering iron from my cold dead hand!” we scream. Whatever our perception, it’s never so bad that we can’t poke a ...... Read More
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